Thefts of AC units, copper are up

Reports of copper thefts are on the rise. At Parkview Baptist Church in Newport… (Joe Fudge, Daily Press )

July 27, 2011|By Veronica Chufo, vchufo@dailypress.com | 247-4741

Criminals spot a vacant house and see the chance to make a profit. They steal the air conditioner and resell it, or remove the copper wiring to sell as scrap.

It's a scene that's becoming more common in Newport News and Hampton, according to real estate agents and police reports.

Nearly 39 percent of the reported AC, copper and metal thefts in Newport News in the past year happened in the last three months, according to police. There were 40 thefts so far in July, 42 in June and 27 in May. That equates to more than one a day.

Nearly two-thirds of the 164 reported metal thefts in Hampton in the past year have occurred since March, with 30 reports in March, 23 in April, 29 in May and 24 in June.

And earlier this week, three Newport News Waterworks employees were charged with selling city-owned scrap metal.

In somes cases, stolen AC units are sold and reinstalled in other homes or businesses, Newport News Det. Allison Erickson said.

In other cases, thieves dismantle the units and sell the copper as scrap, netting more than $3 a pound, she said.

Thieves have also stolen copper gutters from churches and apartment buildings and invaded crawl spaces of homes to gut them of copper piping, she said.

Parkview Baptist Church has been targeted twice. Last year, copper gutters were swiped from the front of the church. This year, thieves came for the downspouts.

In unoccupied commercial properties, walls have been knocked out and stripped of copper wiring.

Sometimes, copper that's not yet installed is stolen out of a house under construction or renovation. Homeowners in these cases shouldn't store supplies on the construction site, especially if work stalls.

"If the suspect or the potential suspect sees no activity at the house, they're more likely to steal the materials," Erickson said.

"One thing that could really help is to keep the people in the homes, so that criminals don't see the vacant homes as an easy target," she said.

Homes are most at risk of being targeted during the lengthy foreclosure process, before banks take ownership, Grossman said.

Dale Chandler, president of the Virginia Peninsula Association of Realtors, said real estate agents should ask neighbors of homes listed for sale to keep an eye on vacant properties, he said. If unfamiliar people are hanging around a house but not going in it, they shouldn't be there, he said.

If neighbors don't recognize an air-conditioning company working on a house, they can call police, who can verify whether the company is there for a legitimate reason, Erickson said. Police have encountered cases were thieves paraded as an air-conditioning service company.

"If there's nothing to it, there's nothing to it. If it's being stolen, at least we can respond more quickly," she said.

Protect yourself

Newport News Police offered these tips to avoid being a victim of copper theft:

•Record the serial and model numbers of your air conditioner. If the unit is stolen and resold whole, police may be able to track the product through those numbers. In one case, police called the manufacturer to find out the serial number of stolen residential air conditioner and they tracked down the unit, Newport News Det. Allison Erickson said.

"Occasionally, it works out. It's few and far between. The metal theft cases are very difficult to follow," she said.

•Install steel cages around air conditioners. Cages can be custom built on-site or ordered through a local HVAC company.

•If that's too expensive, remove the unit until the home is occupied.

•Install steel security bars around the crawl space to prevent easy access to under the residence.

•Install motion-sensor lights outside the residence at the location of the air conditioner.